Photo: RLH Studio

Did you know that natural light is the most important feature most families look for when buying a new home? According to a recent research, more than one-quarter of total people looking for a family home chose “natural light” as the must-have characteristic.

Natural light is a great way to make your home feel lighter, brighter and ultimately more comfortable. The more your rooms are illuminated, the more they will look and feel airy and more spacious. On the other hand, if your corridors and rooms suffer from a lack of a natural light they will look gloomy and unpleasant.

There are many useful tricks to maximize the light levels in your home without using electrical lamps and artificial lights. It’s not so hard to improve your internal ambiance – here are a few tips.

1.  Remove Window Obstructions

Although curtains may look fancy or stylish, window coverings can block light from entering windows. Lighter drapes or smaller curtains can help increase the light. However, there are many other objects that could reduce the illumination in surprising ways. For example, a wardrobe placed beside a window can limit the amount of light that comes from the sides, while a high hedge or a tree in your backyard can block light from entering.

Photo: Home Restoration & General Contracting

2.  Switch Your Traditional Windows With Bay Windows

If your room is particularly dark because all the windows are facing north, you should consider bay windows to replace traditional ones. Bay windows are composed of a center windows flanked by two double-hung windows on each side that allow the light to enter from two additional directions. You will be surprised at finding out how much more light this type of window can let into your room!

3.  Add a Skylight in the Roof

A skylight is a great way to let much more daylight illuminate your spaces naturally. Skylights and lantern skylights are quite costly, but they can be placed on many types of roofs and can save you a good amount of money in electric lighting in due time. If you got the money, you can even fully glaze your roof to massively increase the amount of lights that gets in the house. Be careful, however. Too much glass can cause a greenhouse effect, making your room freezing cold during winter and melting hot during summer.

4.  Install Glass Doors

If you have a backyard or a garden, a glass exterior door can increase the amount of light that gets in certain rooms. Just by adding a frosted glass panel to your front door you can illuminate even the darkest and gloomiest hallway. Many frosted glass panels are reinforced to resist damage and can effectively prevent burglary just like (if not better than) any other wooden panel. You can even think about replacing an entire wall with a patio door to flood your room with light.

5.  Use Taller Glass Doors & Windows

The actual height of your doors and windows matter a lot in determining how much light they can capture. If your doors and windows are glazed to a low height, the room will look small, dark and gloomy. If the light comes from a higher angle, it will look more intense and brighter, so just switch them for full-height glasses. This way, you will dramatically increase the amount of light that will get inside the room.

6.  Switch Your Paint to Lighter and Brighter Colors

Just by introducing some lighter colors to your walls and floor you can make your rooms look and feel much brighter. Remove all that old wallpaper and dark colored trim, and substitute them with softer shades of white and blue. Lighter colors will reflect the natural light that enters the room, while darker colors will absorb it making your room feel darker. If you want to go one step beyond, you can create the illusion of space and height by painting the ceiling a couple of shades lighter than the walls.

7.  Use Glossy, Reflective Surfaces

Reflective surfaces such as metals and mirrors will reflect sunlight and illuminate a room. A good tip is to place a large mirror opposite to a window to reflect all the direct light that enters the room. Always add accessories and furniture with reflective surfaces such as glossy paints and chrome steel fixtures to help diffuse light. Polished ceramic tiles and laminated wooden floors can also serve this purpose excellently. They will also look modern and stylish.

8.  Install a Sun Tunnel

Roof lights and glazed roofs may be too costly for most people with a limited budget, but sun tunnels are cheaper and practical alternative. These clever architectural elements are literally “holes” in your roof that funnel light directly from the outside through a reflective pipe precisely designed for this purpose. They can be installed quite quickly, and could bring to your house all the natural sunshine that you need. The only downside is that you can’t really see the sky because their peculiar structure makes them opaque.

Conclusion

If you want to make your home brighter, you can always wire in some extra lights. Still, nothing can add the warm and pleasant light brought by a ray of natural sunshine. Just follow our tips, and enjoy taking a sunbath every morning in your house.

What are some other ways that you can think of to let more light into your house? Leave us a comment with your illuminating tips in the section below.